Recently, my friends and I were goofing around and watching kids’ cartoon shows on Netflix and to my surprise, the main character was a girl of Asian descent. However, I was quickly dismayed by her neon blue eyes. Upon further viewing, the character’s home was decorated with a bamboo painting and her mother was wearing a qi-pao style dress. While I appreciated this French show’s representation of a person of color, did they really need to make her eyes blue?
Whenever I find small details like this, I feel a small part of my soul fall into a boiling pot of rage within me. Growing up, I loved watching movies from the Barbie series, which features the iconic blonde haired, blue eyed heroine. These Eurocentric beauty ideals were instilled into my brain at such a young age, and I never knew the extent of the damage it caused in myself until years later. Back in the heyday of online games, you were given the opportunity to make an avatar that resembled yourself. Unconsciously, I always made my character blonde and blue eyed and gave her a different name than my own. I always had the opportunity to give the avatar black hair and brown eyes, but I chose not to. Looking back, little things in my childhood like this had definitely shaped me in a negative manner as a young adult.
I specifically remember the releases of To All the Boys I Loved Before and Crazy Rich Asians as being a pivotal moment in which I began to embrace my Asian heritage. I began following more Asian influencers on social media and re-watched Lara Jean and Peter Kavinsky fall in love one too many times. I especially loved the scene where Peter goes across town to buy Yakult for Lara Jean because I’ve introduced Yakult to my friends in the past who’ve always been a bit skeptical about a tiny bottle with a flavor I could not properly describe other than being good. The positive effects of these films rippled out and changed me for the better.
This long explanation leads to why I yearn for more realistic Asian representation in films– and not just as the side character. The power of watching movies as a child with a lead character that resembles yourself is immense and has long lasting effects.
Here’s hoping for more Asian American representation in films!
